螳螂捕 魚

We vertebrates think we're so smart, and we are, comparatively speaking. But that doesn't mean other members of the animal kingdom aren't capable of complex learning — even the ones that eat their mates and have eyes that look like fencing masks.

作為脊椎動物的我們認(rèn)為自己是灰常聰明的，相對來說，事實也確實如此。但是這并不意味著動物王國就沒有能夠進(jìn)行復(fù)雜學(xué)習(xí)的種子選手，即使是會吃掉老公、眼睛像擊劍面具的螳螂，也是會學(xué)習(xí)的。

New research based on one man's observations on his nightly trip to a rooftop garden to watch a male Asian praying mantis (Hierodula tenuidentata) hunt fish suggests that we might not give invertebrates — at least not praying mantises — the credit they deserve when it comes to complex problem-solving.

最新的研究基于一位研究員每晚在屋頂花園對一只雄性亞洲螳螂(學(xué)名：細(xì)齒斧螳)捕魚(對，你沒看錯，不是捕蟬是捕魚)的觀察，即便如此，我們可能也不會給一只解決了復(fù)雜問題的無脊椎動物——至少是不會給一只螳螂它應(yīng)得的稱贊，哪怕它真的做到了。

For five consecutive nights in a row, researcher Rajesh Puttaswamaiah returned to watch the mantis as it hunted for fish in a little fountain on a rooftop garden in Karnataka, India. The mantis hunted late into the night, and caught and ate at least two guppies (Poecilia reticulata) each evening. This was unusual because no previous scientific evidence points to a mantis's preference for fish (though they've been known to eat them when given fish in a laboratory setting), or even their ability to catch them. The reason for this is primarily that their eyes seem to be made for daytime hunting, and that their vision would probably be too poor to hunt aquatic animals, since water adds a extra layer of complexity to the task.

連續(xù)五晚，研究員Rajesh Puttaswamaiah都會去觀察這只在印度卡納塔克邦一個屋頂花園的小噴泉捕魚的螳螂。這只螳螂每天都會來到這里并一直蹲守至深夜，每晚捕到并吃掉至少兩條古比魚(我們叫做孔雀魚)。這并不尋常，因為早先并沒有相關(guān)的研究顯示螳螂偏愛吃魚(盡管在實驗環(huán)境下，如果喂它們魚的話它們會吃)，更不知道它們還會親自“動手”捕魚。因為螳螂的眼睛決定了它們似乎只能在白天狩獵，而且因為視力太差，而水本身又會增加捕捉的難度，因此才會認(rèn)為螳螂根本無法捕捉水里的生物。

Puttaswamaiah and his coauthors speculate that mantises might have evolved impressive learning abilities and that the repetitive behavior might have been the result of personal experience, which allowed the mantis to develop its hunting methods and return to a location of previous success. They realized the mantis's nightly fishing vigil means something important about the insect's ability to learn:

Puttaswamaiah和他的伙伴推測，螳螂可能已經(jīng)進(jìn)化出了學(xué)習(xí)能力，就像人那樣，通過重復(fù)的行為而獲得某項技能，從而使螳螂創(chuàng)造出了自己的捕獵方式，并會回到先前獲得過成功的位置再次進(jìn)行捕獵。他們意識到，螳螂的“夜釣”行為意味著昆蟲的學(xué)習(xí)能力的重要性"。

Remembering the prey's abundance in a particular site, in relation to their ease of capture and their nutritional content, could be one important factor of this choice and indirectly influence the individual predator's fitness," said the authors in a press release. "This should be investigated in further studies."

“記住某一獵物豐富的特定位置，這與其捕獲獵物的容易度和獵物所含的營養(yǎng)有關(guān)，這可能是一個重要的、并會間接影響個體捕食者的健康的因素，”研究者提到。“這應(yīng)該進(jìn)行進(jìn)一步的研究。